Spring Skies

We're having yet another lake drawdown of 2.5 feet this spring to repair the floodgates and upper flashboards of our dam, so I seized the opportunity to get out in my kayak today (and before it started raining again). It was a perfect spring sky, threatening rain and sun on and off all day, but providing the most incredible light and cloud show!

I was also rewarded with sightings of basking painted turtles, frantic red-winged blackbirds, gloriously pink rhodoras

grey tree frogs trilling, a beaver tail slap, 

and the most enormous snapping turtle beneath my kayak. I had to remind myself to remember this when I swim and walk barefoot through the shallows this summer.

What a glorious day I had!

Lawns and Chemicals

I saw this image on a Facebook page about gardening tips, and was heartsore for days. Not being able to get it out of my mind, I decided to share the image and message - lawn chemicals sprayed in the yard coat bugs that are food for birds and their young. Reconsider using chemicals to rid your lawn of messy "weeds" - you're inadvertently reducing bird populations, which keep bugs down. Is that perfect lawn worth the price?

Gardening Tips

Let's try to be more humane gardeners in future.

Moths Grow on Trees

Moths, butterflies and other insects rely on leafy plant material to complete their life cycles. Their larval stages, such as this woolly bear type of caterpillar of the giant leopard moth, need trees - please don't cut them down without a good reason.

This bristly little cherub was glistening with raindrops, showing off its little prolegs (little stumps in the central part of its body),

but it was only when I looked at the other side that the coloration helped determine the species. The reddish bands only show when its body is extended.

Believe it or not, those scary looking bristles aren't poisonous and don't cause irritation - I'm not willing to test this though.

Verdant Spring

Leafy green curtains

Rise from the understory,

Before canopy

Tiny Tubular Trumpets

A delightfully understated native shrub, the American fly-honeysuckle, Lonicera canadensis has an exquisite scent. It attracts hummingbirds and butterflies - a long proboscis or beak helps in getting to the nectar.

I've watched bumblebees having a wonderfully noisy time flitting from flower to flower, though they seem incredibly clumsy and too bulky around these flimsy hanging trumpets.

Earth Day with PALZ

Our invasive plant patrol team, PALZ, participated in Lake Arrowhead's Earth Day clean-up activities. I'm so impressed and thankful for the commitment, generosity and interest this fabulous group has dedicated to our lake's health.

Masquerading as a Morel

 I believe this is a false morel, but am not 100% sure since they're poorly known in N. America. I can't tell which of the Gyromitra/Discina species it is, but it seems to be related to the Giant's false morel or Snow mushroom. It might be Gyromitra amerigigas, or is it of the Hydrnotrya genus, related to the Gyromitras?

Some hungry creature has sliced a piece off the top and then left it lying on the ground - maybe it discovered this wasn't a true morel?

From afar, it looks like a mini misshapen pumpkin, and there's no stalk visible.

Skunk Cabbage Splendor

I can't help but admire the exquisitely unusual flowering structures of Skunk cabbages - they're fascinating!

The little yellow flowers cluster on a round spadix, which is enclosed in a protective spathe - quite magnificent! The odors it emits attract carrion-seeking flies and beetles, which do the job of pollinating its flowers. 

This is how the entire plant presents; initially its large leaves are tightly coiled.

Mayday, Mayapples

My mayapples are opening their umbrellas in this spring rain - each has their own timing: